Ventura CA - April 16, 2011.....Brody
Roa came back to Ventura Raceway
after a few weeks off and made it a
special night as he took his first
ever VRA Sprint Car Main Event over
a field of 20 top contenders. Brody
opened the 2011 season with some
less than hoped for finishes and
took some time off. Saturday night
he proved that the 2010 title of VRA
Rookie of the Year was well earned
with a 14th to first run in the
feature after finishing second in
the Semi Main to earn the feature
starting spot. The race started off
with Troy Rutherford jumping out
front and leading the first nine
laps. He and Greg Taylor battled
until on lap 9 a turn four incident
put Rutherford out of the event.
Taylor then grabbed the lead and led
until lap 22 when engine problems
forced him into the infield. Derek
Buckley then led one lap until
passed by the charging Brody Roa who
took the lead on lap 24 and led to
the finish. Roa's final challenge
came from Cory Kruseman who made a
move to pas Roa on lap 29 only to
spin to the edge of turn one as the
field went on to the checkered flag.
Following Roas across the finish
line were Derek Buckley with another
fine finish, Steve Conrad, Brandon
Thomson and visiting USAC 360 front
runner Richard Vanderweerd, who came
from 13th to his fifth place finish
after winning the Semi Main. There
were three heat races run for the 23
cars signed into the pits for this
Easter Eve event. Heat one went to
Brian Camarillo, heat two went to
Cory Kruseman and heat three went to
Cody Kershaw. Rutherford who had won
four of the first five VRA events in
2010 finished 16th but retains a 85
point lead over Steve Conrad and a
105 point lead over Greg Taylor in
the season long point race.

Cory Kruseman came back with a
vengeance from his VRA Midget win on
March 19th to take the 30 lap VRA
Midget race over a stellar field of
22 VRA Midgets. His second win of
the season in this new series was a
hard fought win over a field that
saw 19 of the 22 starters finish on
the lead lap. Starting 6th on the
grid, Kruseman made a gigantic move
to take the lead on lap two of the
event from lap one leader Randi
Pankratz. He then went on to lead
the remainder of the event holding
off a late race Banzi move on the
top of the raceway by Brian
Camarillo. while most racers were
running the lower groves, Camarillo
took the high line and passed
several cars to take second place.
Following Kruseman and Camarillo to
the line were Josh Ford, Robby
Josett who had started 16th and Josh
Lakatos. Kruseman's keeps him out
front in the season point race.
Three heat races were competed
Saturday night with wins going to
Cory Kruseman in heat one, Brian
Camarillo in heat two and Josh Ford
in heat three. This fine new series
will resume next Saturday night
April 30.

The Ford Focus Midgets were also on
hand Saturday night to run a program
that included a make up feature from
the rained out race on March 19th.
That race went to Wally Pankratz
with Tyler Dolacki, Jared Blondel,
Daniel Williams and Robert Dolacki
following him to the checkered flag.
the regularly scheduled feature went
to Nick Carlson with Jared Blondel,
Wally Pankratz, Robert Dolacki and
Casey Martinez following him to the
finish. Two heat races were run with
wins going to Pankratz and Robert
Dolacki.

IMCA Modifieds were signed into the
pits with 14 cars Saturday night.
Two heat races were run with wins
going to Austin Rodarte and Jack
Parker. The 20 lap feature was a
rough and tumble affair that saw
several incidents in the first 10
laps. Jack Parker jumped out front
on lap one only to be passed by
Aaron Rodarte who went on to take
the win over Brad Prows, Parker, Rob
Green and Gary Curtis. Aaron
Rodarte's win moved him into second
place, 8 points behind Brad Prows in
the point race.

VRA Junior Focus saw 7 cars signed
into the pits with the heat race win
going to Katlynn Leer. The 20 lap
feature was a powerful run by Cole
Custer who also took the win here on
March 19. Following Custer across
the finish line were Parker Colston,
early race leader Christine
Breckenridge who led lap1-17,
Katlynn Leer and Austin Blair.

The final group racing with us on
Saturday night was our VRA Go Kart
division. Three heat races were run
with wins going to Kenny Byers Jr in
heat one, Rich Renken in heat two
and Scott Bohle in heat three. Heat
one saw a wild accident that saw Ken
Ito flip in turn three. the 20 lap
main event saw Rich Renken take the
lead on lap five and go on to take
his second win of the season.
Finishing second through fifth were
Kenny Byers Jr., Jared Byrd, Jamse
Locy and Scott Bohle. Renken's win
puts him 30 points out front in the
point race over Locy after three
races.